Intel has upped its total addressable market (TAM) for what it calls the ‘data-centric’ era of computing from $160 billion to $200bn – with Navin Shenoy, president and general manager of the company’s data centre group, saying it is “the biggest opportunity in the history of the company.”

Shenoy was speaking at the company’s Data-Centric Innovation Summit in Santa Clara, and took to a company editorial to outline his plans.

“I find it astounding that 90% of the world’s data was generated in the past two years – and analysts forecast that by 2025 data will exponentially grow by 10 times and reach 163 zettabytes,” Shenoy wrote. “But we have a long way to go in harnessing the power of this data.

“A safe guess is that only about 1% of it is utilised, processed and acted upon – imagine what could happen if we were able to effectively leverage more of this data at scale.”

Shenoy noted how the confluence of edge computing, mapping, cloud, computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) was making this opportunity more apparent. Naturally, the company has a variety of products which aim to make the process more seamless. Silicon photonics, combining a silicon integrated circuit and a semiconductor laser, aims to provide high performance computing in hyperscale data centres, while Intel’s Optane DC persistent memory focuses on quicker performance with greater affordability.

What’s more, Intel added that more than $1 billion in revenue came from its processors designed for artificial intelligence workloads.

“We’ve entered a new era of data-centric computing,” Shenoy explained. “The proliferation of the cloud beyond hyperscale and into the network and out to the edge, the impending transition to 5G, and the growth of AI and analytics have driven a profound shift in the market, creating massive amounts of largely untapped data.

“When you add the growth in processing power, breakthroughs in connectivity, storage, memory and algorithms, we end up with a completely new way of thinking about infrastructure,” he added.

“To help our customers move, store and process massive amounts of data, we have actionable plans to win in the highest growth areas, and we have an unparalleled portfolio to fuel our growth – including performance-leading products and a broad ecosystem that spans the entire data-centric market.”

Autonomous driving was cited as a key example of how these technologies will converge – Shenoy described it as having life-saving potential – and it makes sense given Intel’s other bets in this area. But perhaps a small note on the maths may be required. Last June, Intel said the ‘passenger economy’ – a strategy for autonomous cars, as well as the potential gains made by time saved driving – could have the potential to hit $7 trillion across the market. Earlier that year, the company said it had ‘unwavering confidence’ in its chances of taking the autonomous driving market.